the update

So, did Maggie’s non-dramatic bike riding breakthrough transfer over into non-dramatic time in the pool?

No.

It’s really too long and ridiculous to type out but I’ll sum up what I gathered in five points.

1. When you are pregnant, very emotional cranky, not extremely mobile, pretty nauseous and struggling with outrageous allergies you shouldn’t choose that time to take your non-swimming children to the pool.

2. When you are taking one child to the pool who is known to be dramatic in that particular situation, it’s really incomprehensible why you would also take your loud, strong-willed 2 ½ year old with you…especially when there were other capable adults that had offered to watch him for you.

3. The mothers sitting by the pool will show no mercy or pity towards you, even in your pregnant state, when both of your kids are bawling and / or screaming at the top of their lungs, clutching on to your neck, acting like you are drowning them…while only their legs are actually in the water. In fact, they will glare at you and even shake their heads with seething disapproval. They will continue their staring and head shaking even during the time it takes to get your bawling children dried and out of the pool area.

4. 7 years of teaching swimming lessons will not prepare you in any way for this experience. It will not give you an inkling of an idea how to handle any of it. It will only contribute to the rapidly increasing notion that you are a complete failure and a very strong urge to start bawling yourself. On a related note, explaining to your almost 6 year old daughter that not one of the hundreds of children that have been in your aquatic care have drowned will not matter to her at all.

5. Paying $8.00 for approximately 6 minutes of this lovely experience is going to make you even more emotional cranky than you were before.

HOWEVER…

There are some positives. First, I don’t plan to be this foolish again. Second, the experience did end with something that made me smile. I had forgotten to bring undies for Cal to put on when we took his wet suit off, so here he is, going commando.